Tri City trail gets $1.6 mil upgrade

Wednesday

Jul 2, 2014 at 11:12 AMJul 2, 2014 at 11:12 AM

By Angie DeWittwatertown@wickedlocal.com

A newly started project aims to boost the beauty along the Charles River and make it accessible to more people than ever before.Several different groups have come together to improve the riverfront along Charles River Road, including the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Town of Watertown, the Lawrence and Lillian Solomon Foundation, the Bilezikian Family Foundation, Perkins School for the Blind, Watertown Commission on Disability, and the Watertown Foundation.Through this partnership, the Watertown segment of the Tri City River Trail will be receiving a $1.64 million upgrade, according to a presentation given to the Watertown Town Council this week.While construction is already underway, the "groundbreaking" is scheduled to be held July 21 at 10 a.m.Among the planned improvements are a new pathway along the river and improved street crossings, according to Town Councilor Cecilia Lenk."The path was unusable and the structures there were not very nice Ė it was just neglected," said Lenk.There will also be a dramatic increase in access to the shore of the Charles River just below Watertown Square, according to the presentation.The project also includes adding a Braille Trail Ė one of the very few in the Greater Boston area. According to Lenk, a Braille Trail is a trail for people who are visually or otherwise handicapped or disabled. The space will also feature braille signs to identity plants and their surroundings."The Braille Trail will really open up the river area to not only Perkins students, but also to many blind and visually impaired people who might not normally participate in those kinds of activities," she said. "Iím very excited about that. Rather than just doing a repair, we are adding a really exciting and important new amenity."The Solomon Foundation paid to have a design produced by Sasaki Associates Inc., and the design has been officially approved by the DCR.The two main access points to the trail will be from Paul and Irving Streets, according to the presentation.The initial design presented to the DCR was going to cost too much, so the groups decided to break the project up into phases."If you canít fund it all at once, why donít we present it in phases?" said Lenk.Dan Driscoll of the DCR and State Representative Jonathon Hecht have been huge supporters of this project, in addition to Town Councilor Steve Corbett, she added.This phase of the project will cost roughly $900,000, said Lenk.The first phase is set to be complete late fall / early winter.The trail will be maintained through the DCR and volunteer efforts from the Watertown Community Foundation, The Friends of the River, Charles River Conservancy, and others who participate regularly in cleanups, trash removal, and minor pruning, according to the presentation.Perkins School will maintain the Braille Trail, said Lenk.According to the presentation, fundraisers will have to occur in order to cut down dead trees and large limbs, remove poison ivy, and overall maintain the trial."Itíll just be amazing," Lenk said. This has been a very good example of how public and private partnerships can work."